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A Collinwood Christmas
A Collinwood Christmas is an audiobook produced by Big Finish Productions. It was released in December 2012. Back cover “I am your worst nightmare, Jamison Collins, for I am the woman who will make you live." Jamison Collins is a lost and broken man. His wife has died, leaving him to bring up his children, Roger and Elizabeth, alone. Ivanka Romano lives in the Old House on the Collinwood estate. Abandoned by her gypsy tribe, she is also alone. But, on this dark and stormy night, ghosts from the past are returning. Ghosts from the past are threatening to end the lives of these lost and broken people. It's Christmas Eve but the only present that the children of Collinwood will receive is death... Synopsis Teaser :Christmas Eve in the town of Collinsport, despite the bitter air and the emptiness of most pockets fires are lit and hearts are warming. Only one house setup on the cliffs stands cold and dark. Christmas has not come to Collinwood, nor to the two children asleep upstairs. Their father, the latest head of the Collins family, refuses to let it in. Jamison Collins, a man whose heart dies a little more each year, sleeps fitfully at his desk. If he is lucky he will forget this night, he will not relieve the memories. He will not wake the dead. Jamison Collins cries out in anguish. His butler, Steadman, attempts to reassure him. Ivanka Romano answers the door of Old House to find Steadman. He informs her he has resigned due to cruel treatment from employer, and that the fate of the two children at Collinwood now rests with her. Theme Ivanka gazes into her crystal ball and sees Collinwood as a dead and empty ruin, shocked by the horrifying vision of the children’s future. Arriving at Collinwood, Ivanka berates Jamison for leading an empty shell of a life. She ventures deeper into Collinwood and finds a hidden room containing an abandoned ballroom covered with broken mirrors. She blows a cloud of herbs onto Jamison. It causes him to remember his wife, Catherine Collins, seven years ago in the same room when she was pregnant with their son. Catherine accidently cuts herself on a shard of mirror, suddenly she convulses in pain and starts to bleed. Ivanka and Jamison enter his study containing a fireplace. She causes a vision of the past to appear in the fire, a happier time when Jamison was a young boy, along with his uncle Quentin. She then causes a vision of the present to appear, showing how despised Jamison has become by the inhabitants of Collinsport. She blows another cloud of herbs onto Jamison; it reawakens another memory of Catherine. This time she is hysterical on her deathbed. Ivanka attempts to create a vision of the future to show Jamison but instead hear a voice coming from another room. They follow it and find the ghost of Isaac Collins mumbling to himself obvious of their presence. Realizing she is out of her depth Ivanka decides to return to Old House to get more of her things. Jamison follows. At the Old House, Ivanka and Jamison discover a glowing light coming from the portrait of Josette Collins. Two spirits trapped within the portrait manifest, that of Kitty Hampshire and Josette Collins. Returning to Collinwood, Ivanka and Jamison find the house infested by ghosts of the past. She deduces that her uncompleted fire incantation from earlier caused them to appear. Back at the fireplace, she shows Jamison a vision of the future depicting Quentin in agony caught halfway between man and beast, the only surviving Collins family member left due to the actions that Jamison has made in the present. With the incantation completed they extinguish the fire in hope that it will banish the spirits. However, they hear a noise coming from upstairs and find the ghost of Gabriel Collins sitting in his wheelchair furiously calling out for the spirit of Edith Collins. As the howls of spirits continue to overrun Collinwood, Ivanka and Jamison take refuge in a small empty room. Upon entering they hear a voice from behind a wall in a sealed off room. It is that of Gregory Trask. A scream comes from another part of the house, Jamison deduces it to be that of his daughter Elizabeth Collins. In the hope of getting to the nursery where the children are, they discover a disused passageway but it instead leads them to the Tower room. Inside they find the spirit of Jenny Collins. Out of window, they see more spirits advancing towards the house from Widows’ Hill. Again they hear the children cry out, they spilt up as they pass through hoards of spirits. Ivanka finds herself back in the ballroom where she encounters the malevolent spirit of Redmond Van Buren. Jamison manages to make his way to the nursery, and finds the children asleep having been comforted by Catherine’s ghost. Back at the ballroom, Ivanka realizes that Redmond’s power has been slowly building ever since Catherine cut herself on the mirror seven years ago and that the dust she used a part of her incantation caused Redmond’s release. She chokes as Redmond causes powdered glass to infest her insides. Jamison joins Ivanka and Redmond in the Ballroom as dust pours out of a crack in a mirror, Jamison turns the mirror upside down causing the dust to be pulled back inside and cutting off Redmond’s power that controls the spirits investing the house. Ivanka uses an incantation to restore the life to Collinwood. Suddenly, vines of ivy and holly from the gardens decorate the insides of the house and it starts to snow in the hallway. Jamison is overjoyed. Renewed with a newfound vigor, he makes plans for the future of Collinwood and all the inhabitants of Collinsport. Much to Ivanka's surprise Jamison kisses her and invites her to stay for Christmas dinner. They passionately embrace. Theme Memorable quotes Dramatis personae *Jamison Selby as Jamison Collins *Lizzie Hopley as Ivanka Romano & Catherine Collins *James Goss as Steadman *James Murphy as Joe Griffin *Jessica Smith as Brigid Griffin *David Selby as Quentin Collins *Kathryn Leigh Scott as Josette DuPres Collins & Kitty Hampshire *Christopher Pennock as Gabriel Collins *James Unsworth as Redmond Van Buren *Roy Thinnes as Isaac Collins (archive clip) *Jerry Lacy as Gregory Trask (archive clip) *Marie Wallace as Jenny Collins (archive clip) Background information and notes *This story takes place sometime after the 1916 scene featured in The Crimson Pearl. It also references story elements from Dress Me In Dark Dreams. *Archive clips from The Crimson Pearl, The Wicked and the Dead & The Doll House are used to represent spectral versions of Isaac Collins, Gregory Trask & Jenny Collins. *This is the first appearance of Catherine Collins, wife of Jamison Collins and mother of Elizabeth Collins Stoddard and Roger Collins. *Ivanka Romano has been living in the Old House, in exchange for her silence about the crimson pearl and the parallel time room. She confirms that she is an relation of King Johnny Romano. *The butler of Collinwood is named here as Steadman, although not stated outright, it can be assumed to be the same one that appeared in the 1916 scene featured in The Crimson Pearl. James Goss again plays the part, this time with an older sounding pitch suggesting a significant passage of time. *Gabriel Collins is stated to be Jamison's great-grandfather. *The plot is reminiscent of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol with Jamison Collins portrayed as an Ebenezer Scrooge type character. *This play was originally scheduled for release in May 2012 under the working title of Deadhouse. *The CD retains its original numbering of ‘32’ despite being released a month before ‘31’. This was due to The Haunted Refrain being delayed by two months. *Jamison Selby, son of original series actor David Selby, plays Jamison Collins the character he was named after. *Also included are trailers for Dress Me In Dark Dreams, The Blind Painter & The Crimson Pearl. Bloopers and continuity errors Official website *Big Finish Productions: A Collinwood Christmas *The Collinsport Historical Society - Review: A Collinwood Christmas Category:Big Finish Audio Dramas